The Scarlet Pimpernel and Prince Nayef bin Asem: Difference between pages

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{{unreferenced|date=December 2006}}{{Jordanian Royal Family}}'''Prince Nayef bin Al Asem''' was born in [[Amman]] on [[January 22]], [[1998]]. He is the only son of his father [[Prince Asem bin Al Nayef]] by his second and current wife, [[Princess Sana Asem]].

{{Quote box|

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|quote=''We seek him here, we seek him there,<BR> Those Frenchies seek him everywhere.''<BR>

''Is he in heaven?<BR>&mdash;Is he in hell?''<BR>

''That demmed, elusive Pimpernel.''

|source=Sir Percy Blakeney (ch.12)

}}

'''''The Scarlet Pimpernel''''' is a classic [[adventure novel]] by [[Baroness Orczy|Baroness Emmuska Orczy]], set during the [[French Revolution]]. It was first published in [[1905]], and is seen as a precursor to the [[spy fiction]] and the [[superhero]] genres. It gave rise to numerous sequels, and has been adapted several times for television and film.

==Siblings==

== The literary character ==

Full

*[[Princess Salha bint Al Asem|Salha]] (born [[June 14]], [[1987]])

[[Image:Anagallis.arvensis1web.jpg|thumb|left|''[[Anagallis|Anagallis arvensis]]'', the Scarlet Pimpernel]]

*[[Princess Nejla bint Asem|Nejla]] (born [[May 9]], [[1988]])

The action takes place during the [[French Revolution]], when a [[secret society]] of English aristocrats, called the "League of the Scarlet Pimpernel", is engaged in rescuing their French counterparts from the [[guillotine]]. Their leader, the Scarlet Pimpernel, takes his nickname from [[scarlet pimpernel|the small red flower]] (''illustration, left'') with which he signs his messages. No one except his small band of 19 followers knows his true identity.

Half

Orczy wrote numerous sequels. Other of her works are related to the series, including [[The Laughing Cavalier]] ([[1914]]) and [[The First Sir Percy]] ([[1921]]), about an ancestor of the Pimpernel's; [[Pimpernel and Rosemary]], about a descendant; and [[The Scarlet Pimpernel Looks at the World]] ([[1933]]), a depiction of the [[1930s]] world from the point of view of Sir Percy. Some of her non-related Revolutionary-period novels reference the Scarlet Pimpernel or the League, most notably [[The Bronze Eagle]] ([[1915]]).

*[[Princess Yasmine bint Al Asem|Yasmine]] (born [[June 30]], [[1975]])

== Precursor to superheroes ==

*[[Princess Sarah bint Al Asem|Sarah]] (born [[August 12]], [[1978]])

*[[Noor bint Asem bin Nayef|Noor]] (born [[October 6]], [[1982]])

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nayef bin Al Asem,Price}}

The Scarlet Pimpernel is often cited as an early (perhaps the earliest) precursor of the [[superhero]] of [[United States]] [[comic book]]s: he is an independently wealthy person with a secret identity which he maintains in action by disguises, while in public life he appears as a politically irrelevant [[dandy]] to draw attention away from himself. In his hero guise, he accomplishes good, in a field in which the state is not competent to act, with his superior reasoning and fighting abilities. However, he never in the entire canon takes a life or indeed seriously wounds a foe. He even has a symbol in his name, which he does use as an emblem, though not on a costume. [[Johnston McCulley]]'s ''[[Zorro]]'' ([[1919]]) and [[Bob Kane]]'s ''[[Batman]]'' ([[1939]]) later followed the same pattern.

[[Category:1998 births]]

[[Category:House of Hashim]]

[[Category:People from Amman]]

[[Category:Jordanian people|Prince Nayef bin Al Asem]]

[[Category:Jordanian royalty|Prince Nayef bin Al Asem]]

[[Category:Living people|Prince Nayef bin Al Asem]]

[[Category:Jordanian princes|Prince Nayef bin Al Asem]]

{{Jordan-bio-stub}}

== Film and other media ==

Hollywood took to the Pimpernel early and often; most such movies have been based on a melange of the original book and [[Eldorado]] ([[1913]]). Film treatments were done as early as [[1917]] and again in [[1928]] and [[1937]]. The [[1934]] film directed by [[Harold Young]], starring [[Leslie Howard]] and [[Merle Oberon]], is widely regarded as the best screen adaptation, although Orczy herself believed Oberon miscast. It was also remade by [[Leslie Howard]] in [[1941]] as [[Pimpernel Smith]], set in [[Nazi Germany]] instead of [[Paris]]. A popular TV adaptation was filmed in [[1982]], starring [[Anthony Andrews]], [[Jane Seymour (actress)|Jane Seymour]] and [[Ian McKellen]]. A British TV series based on the novel, produced by [[ITC Entertainment]], aired for a season in [[1956]]. The novel has even been parodied as a [[Warner Bros]] cartoon short featuring [[Daffy Duck]] ([[The Scarlet Pumpernickel]]) alongside [[Melissa Duck]], in [[1954]].

By contrast, a [[1950]] version ([[The Elusive Pimpernel]]) starring [[David Niven]] has been widely panned by serious fans of the canon.

In 1987, the [[BBC]] [[sitcom]] [[Blackadder]] III included an episode, "Nob and Nobility", in which the Scarlet Pimpernel is praised by everyone, apart from [[Mr. E. Blackadder]], who sees nothing admirable in "filling London with a load of garlic-chewing French toffs... looking for sympathy all the time simply because their fathers had their heads cut off". The episode ends with Blackadder killing two [[Noblemen]] claiming to be the Pimpernel.

The [[BBC]] filmed the story as two 3-part mini-series in [[1999]]-[[2000]] with [[Richard E. Grant]] in the title role and [[Martin Shaw]] as Chauvelin. The series was shown on the A&E network in the [[United States]].

Returning to the work's stage roots, a [[1997]] [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] [[musical theater|musical]] based on the story was composed by [[Frank Wildhorn]] and written by [[Nan Knighton]]. This musical starred Douglas Sills as Sir Percy Blakeney, Christine Andreas as Marguerite Blakeney, and Terrence Mann as Citizen Chauvelin. In [[1998]] a [[soundtrack]] was recorded by the original cast.

This CD includes:

1. Overture - instrumental

2. Madame Guillotine - French Mob and the Marquis de St. Cyr

3. Believe - Percy, Marguerite, and Company

4. Vivez - Marguerite, Percy, Ladies Digby and Llewellyn, and Company

5. Prayer - Percy

6. Into the Fire - Percy and His Men

7. Falcon in the Dive - Chauvelin

8. When I Look At You - Marguerite

9. The Scarlet Pimpernel - Percy and Company

10. Where's the Girl? - Chauvelin

11. When I Look At You (Reprise) - Percy

12. The Creation of Man - Percy, the Prince of Wales and Percy's Men

13. Marguerite's Dilemma - instrumental

14. The Riddle - Chauvelin, Marguerite, Percy and Company

15. Entr'acte - instrumental

16. They Seek Him Here - Percy, Prince of Wales, Ladies Llewellyn and Digby, and Company

17. Only Love - Marguerite

18. She Was There - Percy

19. Storybook - Leontine and the French Ensemble

20. Where's the Girl? (Reprise) - Chauvelin

21. Lullaby - Helene and Chloe

22. You are My Home - Marguerite, Armand, and Ensemble

23. The Duel - instrumental

24. Believe (Reprise) - Percy, Marguerite and Company

25. Into the Fire (Reprise) - Company

In print, one of [[Simon Hawke]]'s Time Wars novels, [[The Pimpernel Plot]] (1985), involves the Scarlet Pimpernel. [[Steve Jackson Games]] published [[GURPS Scarlet Pimpernel]], by [[Robert Traynor]] and [[Lisa Evans]], in [[1991]], a supplement for playing the milieu using the [[GURPS]] roleplaying game system.

== Plot ==

{{spoiler}}

Marguerite Blakeney, a French woman, is married to the foolish, foppish and wealthy Sir Percy Blakeney. The couple have become estranged as a result of Marguerite's earlier unintentional denunciation of a French aristocratic family, resulting in their being sent to the guillotine. Like many other people, Marguerite is deeply interested in stories of the Scarlet Pimpernel &mdash; an anonymous hero who, through a combination of courage and wit, has rescued many French aristocrats from the guillotine, and brought them safely to England.

Marguerite's beloved brother, Armand, is discovered to have links with the Scarlet Pimpernel's organization, and he is therefore in danger of being executed. Marguerite is [[blackmail]]ed by the wily French ambassador to England, Citizen Chauvelin, into helping him to discover the identity of the Pimpernel. If she helps him, Armand's life will be spared. Marguerite very reluctantly agrees to help Chauvelin. She cannot face the thought of losing her brother, and she hopes that the Pimpernel will manage to save himself. She discovers some information, meaningless to her, and passes it on to Chauvelin. She is afraid to confide in her husband, being aware of how much he blames her for her earlier mistake, which led to the execution of an entire family.

When Sir Percy leaves for France, Marguerite realizes, to her horror, that ''he'' is the Pimpernel &mdash; the man she has betrayed. She follows him to France to try to warn him. Sir Percy outwits Chauvelin, and manages to rescue Armand, as well as the father of Marguerite's schoolfriend. Touched by his wife's remorse, and by her devotion and courage, he forgives her for her betrayal, and they return to England, with all misunderstandings resolved.

The subsequent books in the series deal with other characters with whom Blakeney comes into contact, and with the activities of his followers, Lord Tony Dewhurst, Sir Andrew Ffoulkes, Lord Hastings, and Marguerite's brother, Armand St. Just.

== Historical accuracy ==

Orczy was more invested in telling a good tale than in strict historical accuracy. Her sympathies are plainly (and understandably) with the aristocracy, and there are several distortions of historical record and characterization. In particular, the career of Chauvelin, the recurring villain of the series, is much altered; in fact, Bernard-Francois, marquis de Chauvelin, survived the Revolutionary period to become an official under [[Napoleon I of France]] and a noted liberal Deputy under the [[Bourbon Dynasty, Restored]].

== Scarlet Pimpernel Books ==

* [[The Scarlet Pimpernel]] (play [[1903]], novel [[1905]])

* [[I Will Repay]] ([[1906]])

* [[The Elusive Pimpernel]] ([[1908]])

* [[Eldorado]] ([[1913]])

* [[Lord Tony's Wife]] ([[1917]])

* [[The League of the Scarlet Pimpernel]] ([[1919]]) collection of short stories

* [[The Triumph of the Scarlet Pimpernel]] ([[1922]])

* [[Sir Percy Hits Back]] ([[1927]])

* [[The Adventures of the Scarlet Pimpernel]] ([[1929]])

* [[A Child of the Revolution]] ([[1932]])

* [[The Way of the Scarlet Pimpernel]] ([[1933]]) collection of short stories

* [[Sir Percy Leads the Band]] ([[1936]])

* [[The Gallant Pimpernel]] ([[1939]]) collection of four novels

* [[Mam'zelle Guillotine]] ([[1940]])

== 'The Tartan Pimpernel' ==

Inspired by the title ''Scarlet Pimpernel'', the 'Tartan Pimpernel' was a nickname given to the Rev [[Donald Caskie]] ([[1902]]-[[1983]]), formerly minister of the [[Paris]] congregation of the [[Church of Scotland]], for aiding over 2,000 Allied service personnel to escape from occupied France during World War II.

== External links ==

* {{gutenberg|no=60|name=The Scarlet Pimpernel}}

* [http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/o#a45 Other free eBooks by Orczy at Project Gutenberg]

* [http://www.blakeneymanor.com/series.html Site for eTexts for the sequels]

* [http://us.imdb.com/find?q=scarlet%20pimpernel;tt=on;mx=20 IMDB link to Scarlet Pimpernel movies]

* [http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/scarletpimpernel/ SJ Games: GURPS Scarlet Pimpernel]

==See also==

*[[The Scarlet Pimpernel (musical)]]

[[Category:1905 books|Scarlet Pimpernel]]

[[Category:British novels|Scarlet Pimpernel]]

[[Category:Novel sequences|Scarlet Pimpernel]]

[[Category:Wold Newton Family Members|Scarlet Pimpernel]]

[[Category:British films|Scarlet Pimpernel]]

[[eo:Ruĝa Anagalo]]

[[nl:The Scarlet Pimpernel]]

[[fi:Punainen neilikka]]